Therapist authors children's book on sexual abuse

Social worker's new book offers ways to prevent child sexual abuse

Buy Photo

Alisha Hawthorne-Martinez, a clinical social worker and the owner of Second Chance Counseling, talks on Friday about her new book, "This Is My Body and It Belongs To Me." The 32-page book focuses on preventing child sexual abuse.(Photo: Jon Austria/The Daily Times)Buy Photo

Story Highlights

Alisha Hawthorne-Martinez's book "This Is My Body and It Belongs To Me" looks at what community members can do to prevent, rather than just treat, child sexual abuse.

Hawthorne-Martinez, who runs Second Chance Counseling, is one of the only therapists in San Juan County who treats those 18 and younger who cause sexual harm to others. She has a caseload of about 60 clients.

The 32-page book is available in paperback from Lulu.com and as an e-book at Amazon.com.

In the last year, Childhaven treated a total of 263 child abuse cases. Of those, 104 were child sexual abuse cases.

FARMINGTON — When Alisha Hawthorne-Martinez went looking for child- and family-friendly literature to help her clients find solutions to sexual abuse, the 32-year-old clinical social worker said she became frustrated with the lack of quality titles available.

Although the subtitle is "An introduction to sexual abuse prevention and response for children ages 3 and up," the book is also for other age groups and for parents, guardians, teachers, doctors and other therapists like herself, she said.

Hawthorne-Martinez said the book is part of her effort to turn the tide on the rate of sexual abuse in San Juan Count and to orient the community's focus on prevention, rather than merely treating the problem.

She currently juggles a caseload of more than 60 children she treats each month, she said.

Many of the families she sees lack the basics — the money or the confidence, most often — to address sexual abuse, she said.

"I was searching, trying to find literature on sexual abuse on kids, age-appropriate stuff. There were only a couple of things out there, and it's not like they were bad, but they skirted around the idea," she said. "Nobody went right for the throat. And we have to. Our caseload is incredibly high."

Buy Photo

Social worker Alisha Hawthorne-Martinez talks on Friday to physicians at San Juan Health Partners Pediatrics in Farmington about her new book. Hawthorne-Martinez recently self-published a book called "This Is My Body and It Belongs To Me," which focuses on preventing child sexual abuse.(Photo: Jon Austria/The Daily Times)

Hawthorne-Martinez is one of the only therapists in San Juan County who treats people 18 and younger who commit sexual harm to others as well as victims of abuse. She said the book is a needed resource to help her clients and their families tackle an uncomfortable issue that is loaded with stigma and misinformation.

One is "stranger danger," the popular concept that harm to children comes from people the minor doesn't know personally. Hawthorne-Martinez said the majority of sexual abuse cases she sees involve victims whose abusers are the opposite — often trusted relatives, many who live in the same home as the victim.

On Friday, she pitched the book over lunch to a group of pediatricians at San Juan Health Partners Pediatrics on Schwartz Avenue.

“I was searching, trying to find literature on sexual abuse on kids, age-appropriate stuff. There were only a couple of things out there, and it's not like they were bad, but they skirted around the idea. Nobody went right for the throat. And we have to. Our caseload is incredibly high.”

Social worker Alisha Hawthorne-Martinez

"I think this fills a void we might have not known we had," Dr. Brad Scoggins said after her pitch.

Dr. N. Vivian Nnebe said she would like to purchase copies of the book but suggested it be available in gender-specific covers. Though the story features both a boy and girl, the current cover only features an illustration of a girl, which Hawthorne-Martinez said she would change.

Erin Hourihan, CEO for Childhaven, said she would like to secure enough money to purchase at least 300 copies of the book to provide one for each of the nonprofit's clients. Because of the economic downturn, Hourihan said she would only be able to earmark enough money in the organization's waning budget to purchase 10 copies.

For 20 years, Hourihan has worked at the organization, which cares for children caught in difficult situations, often abuse or neglect.

Between July 2014 and June 2015, Childhaven handled 254 cases of child abuse, including 104 cases of sexual abuse, in San Juan County.

Within the last year, the rate of cases the nonprofit have taken were stubbornly similar. Between July 2015 and this July, Childhaven treated 104 sexual abuse cases out of a total of 263 child abuse cases that received forensic interviews.

Buy Photo

Social worker Alisha Hawthorne-Martinez talks on Friday to physicians at San Juan Health Partners Pediatrics in Farmington about her new book. Hawthorne-Martinez recently self-published a book called "This Is My Body and It Belongs To Me," which focuses on preventing child sexual abuse.(Photo: Jon Austria/The Daily Times)